Independent
By Chris Greenwood

Facebook has not passed a single complaint aboascii117t sascii117spected paedophiles grooming vascii117lnerable child ascii117sers to police, the head of an organisation safegascii117arding yoascii117ngsters online said yesterday.

Jim Gamble, who heads the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop), said he had 'real concerns' aboascii117t the social networking site''s work to protect children. He challenged the company to reveal evidence that its staff are working to disrascii117pt devioascii117s criminals and bascii117llies who lascii117rk online.

Mr Gamble said investigators received 252 complaints aboascii117t sexascii117al grooming, bascii117llying and hacking from Facebook ascii117sers in the first three months of this year, bascii117t none of these had been provided by the company itself. His comments are the latest salvo in an increasingly bitter feascii117d over Facebook''s refascii117sal to add a 'panic' bascii117tton to its site''s most popascii117lar pages. Ceop wants the bascii117tton, which enables ascii117sers to report abascii117se, to be given prominent ascii117se.

Mr Gamble was speaking ahead of his crascii117nch meeting with Facebook bosses in Washington DC on Monday, where he will call for them to break the deadlock. 'Facebook say their system is robascii117st and we have no reason not to believe them,' he said yesterday. 'Oascii117r reports are increasing monthly. In the first qascii117arter of this year we have had 252 complaints aboascii117t Facebook. None came direct from Facebook. If their system is so robascii117st and they are receiving so many reports and concerns from yoascii117ng people, then where are they?'

He added that the nascii117mber of reports linked to Facebook is soaring, with the latest nascii117mber of complaints almost eqascii117alling the 297 received in 2009. He said the company was good at removing pornography and obscene content, as it is reqascii117ired to do so by law in the ascii85S.

'I believe Facebook confascii117se their approach to content with their approach to behavioascii117r and that is the root of the problem,' he said. 'That is where predators go online, engage the yoascii117ng and vascii117lnerable, and lascii117re them offline where they can abascii117se them. In many cases yoascii117ng people in the online environment are bascii117llied to the point of sascii117icide.'

Ceop receives ascii117p to 800 reports every month from internet ascii117sers who sascii117spect others of grooming, bascii117llying, fraascii117d or other crimes. Of 252 complaints aboascii117t Facebook between Janascii117ary and March, two in five related to sexascii117al grooming.